Giants fans give Barry Zito a standing ovation after dismal season

Before the 2007 season, the San Francisco Giants signed Barry Zito to a seven year, $126 million contract. Coming off an All-Star season with the A’s in 2006, Zito crossed the San Francisco Bay and immediately turned ineffective, posting a then-career high 4.53 ERA in his first season with the Giants.

It never really got any better for Zito, results wise, over his seven seasons with the Giants. He mostly stayed healthy, which certainly has value, but he never pitched particularly well. And his tenure in San Francisco ended with one of the worst pitching seasons in history — seriously — in 2013.

And yet when Zito left the mound at AT&T Park for presumably the last time as a member of the Giants — after getting $126 million over seven mostly poor seasons — he received a standing ovation:

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It’s not the type of thing that would happen in a lot of sports towns, but it shows the appreciation Giants fans must have for Zito’s few shining moments in the uniform: Namely, his seven shutout innings in Game 5 of the 2012 NLCS and his Game 1 win over Justin Verlander in the 2012 World Series.

And to his credit, Zito seemed to have a good attitude throughout his struggles and acted professionally when left off the postseason roster during the Giants’ World Series run in 2010.

But are a couple of fine performances in the postseason worth $126 million of payroll over seven seasons? Giants fans seem to think so. And flags fly forever, as do incredible photos of beautiful people celebrating an NLCS win in the rain.

Zito went 63-80 with a 4.62 ERA over seven lucrative seasons in San Francisco.

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